- On this "Native Report", we highlight Mariah Gladstone, who shares recipes using traditional ingredients with her online cooking show.

And we talk with Angelika, who runs and operates the Lodgepole Gallery, where we learn more about the history of the gallery and hear from some local native artists.

Plus, we watch as tribal nation leaders come together with Minnesota and Wisconsin government representatives to return Wisconsin Point's sacred burial ground back to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

We also learn what we can do to lead healthier lives and hear from our elders.

- [Narrator] Production for "Native Report" is made possible by grants from the Blandin Foundation, Anishinabe Fund and Alexandra Smith Fund, in support of Native American treaty rights, administered through the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp.

(gentle music) DSGW Architects, personalizing architecture, online at dsgw.com.

And viewers like you.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) - Welcome to "Native Report", and thanks for tuning in.

I'm Rita Karppinen.

In this episode, we are exploring a trailblazer in her community, Mariah Gladstone.

She spreads knowledge of Blackfeet Nation history in Montana.

She also shares recipes using traditional ingredients with her online cooking show, "Indigikitchen".

She invites us into her home as she whips up a dish featuring indigenous foods.

(gentle music) - We're going to be making a bison and wild rice stuffed butternut squash, and I'm gonna tell...

I run "Indigikitchen", which is obviously an online teaching tool dedicated to revitalizing indigenous diets.

And with that, I do public speaking, cooking classes, virtual and in-person presentation.

I want to talk about the colonization of food.

We rarely hear about the systematic eradication of the bison as a means to starve natives.

And of course, make online content for my YouTube channel and website.

And then I also, in the summers, have a storytelling job showcasing Blackfeet stories and reminding visitors to Glacier National Park of the thousands of years of indigenous history here.

So much of the history of this place is much older than Glacier National Park, and I think that so many things when we drive through national parks are focused on that big wide lens view, the mountains and the waterfalls and the rivers and the lakes and all these pretty landscape features.

But there is rarely that focus, that zoom in on the stories of those places.

The how things came to be, the why they are, the what happened there, the plants that people use, the animals and the things that they taught us.

And so those are stories that I try to share with the parks' guests, not just to help them learn more about Blackfeet people, but to help them get a much deeper sense of place, and to begin to understand that millennia of history that has happened on the land.

Hello, okay, everybody, and welcome to tonight's virtual cooking demonstration.

And I'm gonna try to intertwine stories of foods and kind of this history of indigenous foods that gives us this much bigger context for some of the things that you're gonna be watching prepared tonight.

"Indigikitchen" was started because I saw the huge epidemic of diet related illnesses in Indian country, but a lot of that is because of this multi-generational disconnect that we have from our traditional food systems.

Therefore, we use the tools that we have in the 21st century, like digital media, to create an online teaching tool dedicated to revitalizing and re-indigenizing our diets, hence indigenous digital kitchen, "Indigikitchen".

For today's demonstration, I'm really excited that the Montana State Library hired me to do a big virtual programming event.

And so this provides an opportunity for libraries all across the state of Montana to tune in to this Zoom webinar, where we get to teach about indigenous foods.

So this is what wild rice looks like when it's all cooked up.

But also just to cook something really delicious.

Out here, 40 miles from the nearest grocery store, there was definitely that realization of what it means to live in a food desert.

Of course, we know that that term only defines how far we are from a grocery store and not how far we are from food, because I also realized that there were hundreds of plants outside that my ancestors knew how to eat, knew how to prepare.

The freezer was packed with moose meat and deer.

And I could make things, I could grow things.

We had a little hoop house set up at my dad's, and I was able to get fresh tomatoes and greens and things like that.

And I was able to work with those foods that have been eaten for thousands of years on this continent.

And so that, of course, was something that I kept with me even after I graduated, and I ended up taking vacation days from my first job to go to a food sovereignty conference.

And while I was there, I said that we just need an indigenous cooking show.

I'm just gonna make one and call it "Indigikitchen".

And so even though it was kind of half said as a joke, I ended up doing it, and of course, that's where we are today.

I use digital media as a tool.

And of course, originally I thought that putting cooking videos on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram was going to target a younger audience, but elder native women are one of the highest demographics per capita of folks that are on Facebook.

And so of course, a lot of who I reach ends up being elders, as well as youth.

And so what I get to see is not just young people really excited about this knowledge, but also people getting their families involved.

And we know that food is a family thing.

It's something that people get to share in their homes and in their own kitchens.

And so I love getting to post "Indigikitchen" videos and seeing younger people maybe tag their parents or their grandparents and say, "Can we make this this weekend?

I can't wait to try this."

They tag family members and friends and they build that community space, even in that digital realm.

And tagging "Indigikitchen" and getting to build that community knowledge.

Because I know that what I'm doing is making a difference if people are actually able to use that information.

(upbeat music) Chief Mountain is, of course, our leader of our mountains and a great spiritual place of importance for the Blackfeet people.

But I also think of Chief Mountain as it relates to my work with food sovereignty in our ability to feed ourselves.

And Chief Mountain, of course, today lies directly on the border between the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park.

But originally, our reservation lands extended all the way to the continental divide, to the backbone of the world.

And unfortunately, we were forced into dependence on government subsidized food systems due to the near eradication of bison populations.

The shift from being nomadic people to being forced into reservation squares that were portioned out by the Dawes Act and then told to feed ourselves from that little square.

And because of that, when there was a winter where the rations did not arrive, Blackfeet people weren't able to feed ourselves, and we lost a quarter of our population due to starvation in one winter.

And in the years that followed, our leaders made decisions to sell off some of those remaining reservation lands, including the area that's now the eastern half of Glacier National Park.

There was a Blackfeet leader at the time who said, "Chief Mountain is my head, now my head has been cut off."

And when I think about food sovereignty and that ability for us to feed ourselves, it's more than just about nutrition, it's tied to our political sovereignty as well.

I recognize that my life was given more value than even our most sacred place, as a child that is descended from people that had to eat.

And of course with that, I know that the responsibility to help build back our food sovereignty, build back our community's ability to feed ourselves, build back our physical health and our connection to the land is part of why my ancestors made that decision, and that's something that I think about every time I see Chief Mountain.

The things that I put out are things that community members are asking for.

It is really something that's led based on what I see around me as someone that is gardening in this climate and hunts these mountains and gets to be in this place.

I am trying to share what knowledge I gain as I gain it and continue to learn from native chefs and elders and knowledge keepers in plants and gardens and fish and everything else that I can, so.

- Mariah Gladstone graduated from Columbia University with a degree in environmental engineering and returned home, where she developed "Indigikitchen".

(upbeat music) - Pulmonary function tests or PFTs show how well your lungs are moving air.

While it seems we just breathe in and out, it's a lot more complicated than that.

There are two types of disorders that affect how air moves in and out of your lungs.

Obstructive lung disease.

This is when air has trouble getting out of the lungs due to airway resistance, and overall, this causes decreased airflow.

Think of trying to breathe through a straw.

Restrictive lung disease.

This is when the lung tissue or chest can't expand enough.

Think of a belt around your chest.

Most often, the tests are done with a spirometer.

This is a disposable mouthpiece hooked to an electronic measuring device.

There are more measurements than you would think, and they help decide what the problem is and what treatments will work best.

PFTs gather lots of information and measure 10 parameters.

Those tell how well you can move air in and out of your lungs, how much air you move during normal breathing, the maximum volume your lungs can hold, and how fast the air can move, among other things.

Normal values vary from person to person, and your results are compared to the average expected results.

PFTs can be checked against previous tests to see if they have changed.

PFTs can help diagnose and separate out allergies, infections, chronic lung conditions such as asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, emphysema, and other diseases, and help find the best treatments for your condition.

Some medications can interfere with the tests, and your provider or pharmacist can help with that.

You shouldn't smoke or eat a big meal before the test, and you should give it your best effort to get the best information.

You may be given a bronchodilator after certain tests to see if your airflow improves.

As always, your healthcare provider can help explain your results.

And remember to call an elder.

They've been waiting for your call.

I'm Dr. Arne Vainio, and this is "Health Matters".

(upbeat music) - The Blackfeet Nation Culture Camp has traditionally offered a wide range of activities to visitors of the Blackfeet Nation.

After sad news at the death of the Blackfeet Nation artist and historian, Daryl Norman, all those activities aren't taking place there today.

Even though it's not operating in the capacity it has in the past, his wife, Angelika, wanted to keep the legacy of the culture camp alive.

She continues to run and operate the Lodgepole Gallery, where she displays works of Blackfeet Nation artists like Jay Young Running Crane.

We take a visit to the gallery to learn more about the history, as well as the importance of the gallery supporting native artists.

(gentle music) - The Lodgepole Gallery was founded in 1993 by my husband, Daryl Norman.

He was born here, in which he was a Blackfeet tribal member, and he started this business because people came here, they wanted to stay in the tipis, and they wanted to see artwork.

We had people from all over the world coming here, and people were looking for a unique cultural experience.

They can stay in a Best Western hotel anywhere, but staying in the tipi on the prairie, that is something very unique.

And my husband was also doing art workshop because he was a Blackfeet artist, and he was very knowledgeable in Blackfeet history.

Was doing reservation tours as well.

So, people came here and had a full cultural experience.

In our gallery, you find handmade items.

That's important to me, that they are handmade and that they are locally made.

There are few non-native items like my cards, for example, which my artwork is mainly based on artwork I did together with my husband, but also separate.

Then you find jewelry made by native artists or by Montana artists, but I focus on Blackfeet artists and everything in here.

I really like the combination of bead work and paintings.

I think that's really unique.

He uses traditional Blackfeet designs, like what he did in the border design on the bottom, that was from tipis, and so I really like this, when artists refer back to their own culture.

- My artwork is beaded acrylic canvas work that I do pictures of.

I usually do images of Western artwork, whether it's rodeo riders or Native American.

I took a canvas, a stretched canvas already, and I drew an image of a tipi, and I beaded the tipi and painted the backgrounds.

And so my first one, I thought I used too large of beads, so it didn't come out like the image I wanted, so I had to downsize my beads.

And then I got the image that I liked.

And so I start doing a lot of tipi pictures, beaded tipi pictures, and those sold, I sold those pretty good.

And got tired of just doing that one image there, and I thought, well, I'm gonna start trying to do some other images, and that's when I started doing other images of an eagle flying over a camp in the sky and a bull rider, and then I went on to doing another one of the buffalo hunt.

Sometimes it's reluctant to start, because I know it takes so long to do a beaded picture.

But once I get into it, then I start really wanna get into it, because then I wanna see what the outcome comes out, I can see how the image comes out.

I'm trying to use my arts and crafts to kind of help educate the non-Indian visitor or tourist that's coming here.

With my beaded pictures I'm doing right now, you know, another person comes along and says, "Well, somebody's gonna start copying your artwork," and I said, "Great, hopefully they can come back and do pieces even better than I'm doing."

Even though there's people out there that do some really wonderful beaded pictures, you know, I just hope that somebody locally will come along and do what I'm doing and make it even better.

- [Angelika] Many Blackfeet artists use the mountains as the background, because the mountains there for traditional people not only a landmark to travel on, along the mountains here is the Old North Trail, where the people traveled with their travois, and you still see the tracks of the travois there on the Old North Trail.

So the mountains are always the landmark.

The Blackfeet called the mountains the backbone of the world.

- The reason why I come up here on the Lodgepole Gallery here, 'cause it overlooks the mountains.

You can see them from peak to peak, and you can see the whole entire mountain range.

As an artist, you'd like to try to capture the whole mountain range if you can, and you can, you know, depict different parts of the mountains that you're drawing, but I think it's a good approach to see the whole mountain range itself.

That's why I come up here to this Lodgepole Gallery and sit here and draw the mountains and bring 'em back to my home and paint 'em.

Loved all these mountains, and I've been drawing them when I was just a little boy, and painting drawings like the one I did here.

And it's always given me that good feeling like, you know, there's something in these mountains, but yet I'm so far away, I can't really see 'em, but I can imagine, you know, the wildlife in there, the trees, the depth, the shadows of rivers and waterfalls.

- [Angelika] I mean, this spot up here on the hill with the view of the mountains, it's just glorious.

And people are drawn to it.

People really look for it, the tourists look for unique art that is rooted in the land.

- It was really good for me to see my artwork displayed in a gallery, you know?

Like I said when I walked into a gallery, it was like, wow, this is pretty neat.

And now when I walk in and if I see my piece, it's like, wow, I'm part of this.

- In 2009, Lodgepole Gallery and Tipi Village was featured as one of the greatest trips in "Travel + Leisure" magazine.

Tribal nation leaders came together with Minnesota and Wisconsin government representatives to return Wisconsin Point's sacred burial ground back to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

They've planned an event to acknowledge the communities that help support the efforts.

(gentle music) (gentle music) - Fond du Lac and I planned that event together.

(people cheering and applauding) I mean, that was months and months in the works.

When you elect different people, you get different results.

(audience applauding) Governor Evers is up here kind of a lot.

I was able to invite him personally, and him and his team, it was their to-do for the summer.

They were not gonna miss it.

Governor Walls was there.

Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, who's a member of White Earth and just a personal hero of mine.

US Senator Baldwin came.

It was more than we could have asked for.

- Thanks to strong relationships and committed partners across tribal, state, and federal government that today's ceremony is possible.

So again, I wanna thank all the leaders who recognize how important this land transfer was and who are working tirelessly to get it done and provide some closure for so many.

- As with many communities across the country, we must reckon with and learn from our dark history in order to move forward.

I'm proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with tribal nation leaders and government partners in officially returning Wisconsin Point's sacred burial ground to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.

- This doesn't make it right, but it's the right thing to do.

And I think when we talk about tribal, yeah, I think it's... (audience applauding) Because I think as we heard our drummers and our honored speakers talk about centering us in what our role is, our role is to make the world a better place and acknowledging the wrongs that were done.

- Today is a good day.

My daughter was asking where I was going this morning, and I said, "Well, we're gonna go to a ceremony where we are acknowledging that land that was taken will be returned."

And she said, "That sounds pretty good.

They should do that more."

So, I hope that... (audience applauding) So that tells me I'm doing something right with my nine-year-olds.

- Tribal families and communities have the right to care about and visit and pray at the sites of your ancestors, the burial sites of your ancestors and your loved ones.

And also to be assured that these sites will be respected and protected for all time.

- We never lost sight of the point of the event, and the point of the event was to acknowledge the community that helped get it done, the community that believed in it, the community that supported us when it was really hard.

And to set the record straight and to talk about what really happened to those people, that the descendants of Chief Osaugie would be in that room to tell those high level officials what this meant both at the time and in the present.

We were so honored, but we really wanted those people who spend a lot of time at podiums to hear and to listen.

- This transfer of land back to (speaking in foreign language) has been a long time coming.

- And I think that's what we're doing today, is actually being respectful, and it's why I appreciate all of you being here.

I think that's the page that we're turning in history here, is that we're moving into a more positive direction.

Whether that's acknowledgement of indigenous rights, but also these things where we're getting territory back so that the people whose ancestors are there can take care of them.

- My name's Bob Miller.

I am a member of the seventh generation after Chief Osaugie.

And my family is from Wisconsin Point.

We live down on the end of it.

My grandmother was a Durfee, and I actually know where her house was, and I've taken my kids over there and showed 'em.

She grew up out there till she was about eight years old, and that's when they were forced to move into Superior.

My grandmother actually told me the story that if we ever got the property on Wisconsin Point back, she would be the first to build a home out there and live there again, because she's missed it so much.

So, she may not be here to enjoy it, but I take my kids, my grandkids down there, and they enjoy it for her.

And we know she's there.

She's always with us.

- If you missed a show or wanna catch up online, find us at nativereport.org and follow us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram for behind the scene updates.

And drop a comment on social media if you enjoyed the show.

Thanks for spending time with your friends and neighbors across Indian country.

I'm Rita Karppinen.

We'll see you next time on "Native Report".

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - [Narrator] Production for "Native Report" is made possible by grants from the Blandin Foundation, Anishinabe Fund and Alexandra Smith Fund, in support of Native American treaty rights, administered through the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

The generous support from viewers like Jack and Sharon Kemp.

(gentle music) DSGW Architects, personalizing architecture, online at dsgw.com.

And viewers like you.

(gentle music)